Tampering involves the deliberate altering or adulteration of a product, package, or system. Tamper resistance is resistance to tampering by either the normal users of a product, package, or system or others with physical access to it. There are many reasons for employing tamper resistance. Tamper resistance ranges from simple features like screws with special heads, more complex devices that render themselves inoperable or encrypt all data transmissions between individual chips, or use of materials needing special tools and knowledge. Tamper-resistant devices or features are common on packages to deter package or product tampering. In some applications, devices are only tamper-evident rather than tamper-resistant.
It has been argued that it is very difficult to make simple devices, particularly electronic devices, secure against tampering, because numerous attacks are possible, including: physical attack of various forms (microprobing, drills, files, solvents, etc.), freezing the device, applying out-of-spec voltages or power surges, applying unusual clock signals, and inducing software errors using radiation (e.g. microwaves or ionizing radiation). However, there is a need to arrive at a simple, but effective, tamper resistant joining that would at least obviate some of the possible attacks, particularly physical attack. A proposed solution according to embodiments herein for tamper resistance is an enclosure or assembly having tamper resistant bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy joints, wherein the enclosure or assembly is fitted together and joined via a thermoplastic forming operation, for example, in order to seal the enclosure and hinder attempts to tamper with the contents.